2 l September
15 - 21, 2019
Northeast Oregon TV Weekly
Ken Burns’ ‘Country Music’ tells a tale of an
art form born from love and loss
BY GEORGE DICKIE
No matter how you feel about country music, one needn’t
be a fan to appreciate “Country Music.”
Indeed, Ken Burns’ latest epic, premiering Sunday, Sept.
15, on PBS (check local listings), is an eight-part, 16-hour
documentary that explores the history of the genre, from
its roots in Appalachia in the 1920s and ‘30s through its
evolution in the South, Southwest and Midwest in the mid-
and late-20th century to its decidedly more rock-and-roll-like
sound of today.
Along the way, the documentary tells the stories of the
pioneers who helped shape the music, among them Jimmie
Rodgers, Bill Monroe, Hank Williams, Patsy Cline, Johnny
Cash, Merle Haggard, Charlie Pride, Loretta Lynn, Willie
Nelson, Dolly Parton, Garth Brooks and the Carter family,
whose songs tell the stories of the hardships and joys
experienced by ordinary people.
“It’s three chords and the truth,” says Burns, quoting
legendary songwriter Harlan Howard. “It does not have the
sophistication of classical or some forms of jazz but it has the
truth. You can hear the lyrics and they’re describing universal
human things and we disguise it. We love to pretend that
country music is about pick-up trucks and hound dogs and
six-packs of beer and good ole’ boys. ... No, that’s a subgenre.
What country music talks about are two four-letter words that
most of us get uncomfortable talking about, and that’s love
and loss.”
Ken Burns is the director behind the
new documentary series “Country
Music,” premiering Sunday on PBS.
541-786-8984
The film does a good job of explaining the structure of
country, with jazz trumpeter Wynton Marsalis pointing out
that country has its roots in blues, folk and jazz. It also explains
the origins of elements like the “blue yodel” and the yelps of
“A-ha!,” which became staples of early country music. Clips of
early performances by Monroe and others bear that out.
It also offers up a treasure trove of interviews, including with
many of the above.
Burns, who grew up working in a record store in his native
Ann Arbor, Mich., knew about country but was not a fan.
That changed after years of work on this project, which he
called “daily humiliations of what I didn’t know.”
As to what surprised him most, he says, “Everything.”
“The racial component,” he says, “the extent to which the
pantheon of the early days of country music is filled with
African-American influence, that the banjo is from Africa.
That your strong women from the very beginning and well
before anybody in rock and folk is picking up women’s issues,
they may not call themselves feminists or talk about women’s
liberation.
“Loretta Lynn is singing, ‘Don’t Come Home A-Drinkin’
With Lovin’ on Your Mind’ or ‘The Pill,’ ” he continues. “And
I wonder what black eye (the Jefferson Airplane’s) Grace Slick
would have gotten if she had been talking about that in her
circle. ...”
“And (Lynn) says, ‘If you’re talking about your life and
you’re telling the truth, it’s going to be country.’ ”
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